Samsung and Google to update Galaxy Nexus with fix for volume bug

There's been quite the hoopla over the past few days around the Galaxy Nexus volume bug -- that's the nasty little issue which results in the phone's volume levels going crazy when it's on a 900MHz 2G/EDGE network, or when it's exposed to RF interference from another phone that is.

We reached out to Samsung for comment on the glitch, and they've responded today with the confirmation that a fix is indeed in the works.

We are aware of the volume issue and have developed a fix. We will update devices as soon as possible.

So hopefully that'll be the end of that. It's worth remembering that this shouldn't be an issue in the U.S., because neither of the GSM carriers in the States operate on 900 MHz. That and the fact that the U.S. has neither the phone nor a firm release date yet. D'oh.

And don't fret if it looks like the update's coming from Samsung even though this is a Nexus phone. Google has issued the exact same statement this morning, and we'd expect updates to roll out the same way as with other Nexus phones -- from Google directly.

Actually, it will be a problem. In the United States, the GSM 850 and the CDMA 850 (sometimes called CDMA 800) bands both overlap the European GSM 900 band. Verizon also uses CDMA 850 as its dominant frequency band, with some CDMA 1900 sprinkled throughout its areas thanks to various acquisitions over the years. So it could actually be a problem for the Verizon version.

And that's why people want a Nexus. A fix is out in a week. I'm just hoping that after this phone starts to sell on Verizon it will stay out of the way. Theurvtesters are no robs that let the Charge and TBolt out.

I don't mind letting the foreigners test the phone for us :) Just as long as we get it here eventually. Actually, as long as we get it here in the next two months or so. Any longer than that and it will be old news and old technology.

I'm a Systems Engineer and also a Developer. I deal with things like this every day.

What we have here is indeed a hardware issue, in that the radio interference is coming in through the radio hardware.
However things like this can be fix fairly easily in software. It's called debounce.
When you monitor an electronic input like the buttons on a phone there is always noise and flutter even when you just press the button. If testing by Google has shown that they just need to turn up the debounce time (the time which an input must exceed for it to be determined to be a genuine press) then it will more than likely just work and no one will ever see ti again.

Like I said I deal with this kind of thing every day, it's not a big deal as long as your debounce time is not excessive. But noise happens down on the order of 1 to 40 ms, real inputs when you press a button last from 100 or 200ms if you tap the button, up to seconds if you hold it down.

This is nothing like Apple and the iPhone 4 antennae problems that could not be fixed in software. I'm sure everyone will see in due time, the problem will be fixed, and the dust will blow over.

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